The more ambitious wars are, the greater the likelihood that they will go awry. Wars usually become n…

The more ambitious wars are, the greater the likelihood that they will go awry. Wars usually become nightmares that last far longer than expected, and their ultimate consequences can rarely be predicted. These monumental legacies of failure have shaped the past century profoundly and have altered decisively the existences of countless millions: destroyed their lives, driven them into exile, or traumatized what might have been the joys and cares of normal existence. Innumerable nations that embarked on vainglorious missions to use their military power to attain political goals inflicted unimaginable suffering on other countries but also on their own people, thereby condemning their own destinies: some to social and political disorder or even to revolutions, to the decline of power and prestige, and to fates that were far worse than had they done nothing. Empires have risen, but they have also fallen. The strongest argument against one nation interfering with another does not have to be deduced from any doctrine, moral or otherwise: it is found by looking honestly at the history of past centuries.